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The main purpose of the paper is to explore and discuss the influence of product type on customer interaction in electronic commerce. We have conducted two qualitative case studies in distance selling companies to inductively explore how the product characteristics of garments and music-CDs influence customer interaction. We apply a product classification scheme built on product theory to characterize and classify these products. By classifying product types according to this scheme we focus certain aspects; e.g., in which situation the customer uses the product and, thus, experiences potential satisfaction. By applying product theory to the electronic commerce context we are expanding this theory into a new area. Knowledge about product characteristics- influence on customer interaction in various phases of electronic commerce enriches and specifies the existing product theory. In order to put this theory contribution into practice, a set of focal questions with the aim to increase product understanding in an electronic commerce setting is formulated. The questions highlight product related issues that are important to consider when deciding communication media in electronic commerce.

3.

Axelsson, Karin

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context.

This article focuses on core ideas behind an information centric approach concerning stability in databases. We investigate if and how data stability is obtained when an information centric approach is implemented in practice. The results of our two case studies reveal four tactics focusing on actions conducted in order to obtain and maintain stability in databases: (1) change avoidance, (2) anticipated generalization, (3) constructive standardization, and (4) expansion to new application areas. Based on our empirical findings, we argue that data stability is a result of social construction in organizations rather than just an effect of structured information systems planning. The contributions in this paper can be used to explain IS design effects in organizations and analyze organizational situations from a data stability perspective.

5.

Axelsson, Karin

et al.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In January 2008, the Swedish Government launched a new eGovernment action plan which was formulated to serve as “a new basis for IT-based organisational development in public administration”. The main objective in the plan was formulated as “as simple as possible for as many as possible”. The definition of eGovernment used in the action plan is the one agreed upon by many other European countries: “eGovernment is organisational development in public administrations that takes advantage of information and communication technologies (ICT) combined with organisational changes and new skills”. Behind the suggested course of actions there is a rhetoric that Sweden was now entering a new path regarding eGovernment development. Taken together the declarations in the plan made it and the expressed expectations of profound changes in public administration an interesting target for critical review.Having identified the importance in critically discussing and analysing the action plan, the Swedish Researchers Network in eGovernment (www.egov.nu) arranged a network meeting at the national conference for public sector in Sweden June 2008. The theme for the meeting was “Reflections on the Swedish action plan for eGovernment”. Several researchers and practitioners shared and debated their reflections during this meeting. In order to continue this very interesting discussion after the conference, we then invited authors to submit an article on the same theme, i.e. analysing different aspects of the Swedish action plan for eGovernment. This call for papers was directed both to participants at the network meeting and others, who wanted to contribute to this on-going debate. The call was to encourage authors to communicate and share their insights and opinions regarding the action plan in order to provide knowledge to decision-makers and other practitioners.

7.

Axelsson, Karin

et al.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, The Institute of Technology.

Melin, Ulf

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, The Institute of Technology.

Fragmentation and isolated development are main problems that hinder successful e-government. This paper has an inter-organisational perspective on challenges in one-stop government. We present a conceptual framework that characterises an inter-organisational relationship and its dimensions. The conceptual framework is used for analysing data from an inter-organisational one-stop government project. When applying the framework we focus on some interesting issues and explain some of the challenges that our interviewees identified. By addressing these inter-organisational aspects we reached further understanding of the problems associated with this case, which can provide added value to discussions of e-government challenges, barriers and problems in general.

This paper reports from an action research project where focus groups have been used as an approach for taking citizens’ requirements into account during public e-service development projects. In the paper we use theories from the area of user participation in the information systems (IS) discipline in order to discuss and enhance the specific aspects of citizen participation and involvement in the eGovernment context. The main purpose of this paper is to enrich the eGovernment field in general, and to facilitate the citizen perspective in eGovernment development projects in particular, by using notions from the user participation tradition in the IS discipline. Our empirical findings from performing focus groups are discussed and compared to well-known user participation theories from the IS discipline. This results in an emergent framework for better understanding of citizen participation and involvement in the eGovernment context. The emergent framework consists of a set of questions that can be used in order to put an increased focus on the citizen perspective in future eGovernment development projects.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2012, held in Delft, The Netherlands, in September 2012. The 23 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from more then 80 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on foundations; adoption and diffusion; open government and transformation; infrastructure and technology; evaluation; and citizen perspective, social inclusion, and social media.

This study illustrates how students view the role and meaning of learning outcomes. We have conducted a focus group with students who attended the course “Enterprise (ERP) systems and organizing” within an IS bachelor program in Sweden. Our study shows that students, as a course’s main stakeholder group, regard the multi-functionality of learning outcomes. What they still miss is knowledge about the role and meaning of learning outcomes as control instruments for the entire educational process. When teachers formulate learning outcomes in a transparent and clear way, students will be able to use them actively prior to courses, during courses and after courses. In order to better use the potential of learning outcomes in practice, we need to find ways of not just formulating learning outcomes in a standardized manner, but also practicing them in our courses. When this learning outcome model has been accepted and applied in teachers’ course activities, not just their syllabus writing, we have possibilities to use the full potential of learning outcomes.

In this paper a longitudinal case study of an e-government development project is reported. The authors have followed a development project during three years, from its initiation to its end. The purpose of the paper is to identify and analyze important decisions made and external factors that occurred during the project and discuss their consequences. The findings are presented as seven key lessons that other e-government projects can learn from. The contributions are, thus, both a reflective analysis of an empirical e-government development example and normative statements about how to conduct successful e-government projects.

13.

Axelsson, Karin

et al.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Melin, Ulf

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In this paper we analyze a public e-service development project from its initiation to its end and reflect upon the process as well as its results. The purpose of the paper is to develop knowledge about how e-government projects should be managed and performed in order to be successful. We do this by identifying and analyzing important decisions made and external factors that occurred during the project and discussing their consequences. The findings are presented as six key lessons for e-government projects. The novel knowledge contribution is that the lessons combine aspects from established CSFs of IT projects with e-government-focused issues. Together these six lessons can be more useful in e-government projects than previous sets of general CSFs for IT projects.

This article reports from an empirical study of young Swedish university students’ attitudes towards electronic identification (eID). Three focus groups were conducted with students, as a main target group, who were asked to use a public e-service at the Swedish Board for Study Support which demanded secure electronic identification. After having conducted the assigned tasks the students’ attitudes were discussed in the focus group. Our findings show that usability and security are two main themes that the respondents found to be important in order to trust eID and e-services. This example of how citizens’ attitudes towards electronic identification can be explored in focus groups is related to the on-going national development process of a new eID solution on a strategic and artifact level. In this process no citizens are participating or involved so far. We conclude the article by discussing what might be the consequences of neglecting citizens’ attitudes in this kind of development and implementation processes.

15.

Axelsson, Karin

et al.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Melin, Ulf

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Lindgren, Ida

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate if, and in that case, how and what the e-government field can learn from user participation concepts and theories in general IS research. We aim to contribute with further understanding of the importance of citizen participation and involvement within the e-government research body of knowledge and when developing public e-services in practice.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The analysis in the article is made from a comparative, qualitative case study of two e-government projects. Three analysis themes are induced from the literature review; practice of participation, incentives for participation, and organization of participation. These themes are guiding the comparative analysis of our data with a concurrent openness to interpretations from the field.

Findings – The main results in this article are that the e-government field can get inspiration and learn from methods and approaches in traditional IS projects concerning user participation, but in e-government we also need methods to handle the challenges that arise when designing public e-services for large, heterogeneous user groups. Citizen engagement cannot be seen as a separate challenge in e-government, but rather as an integrated part of the process of organizing, managing, and performing e-government projects. Our analysis themes of participation generated from literature; practice, incentives and organization can be used in order to highlight, analyze, and discuss main issues regarding the challenges of citizen participation within e-government. This is an important implication based on our study that contributes both to theory on and practice of e-government.

Practical implications – Lessons to learn from this study concern that many e-government projects have a public e-service as one outcome and an internal e-administration system as another outcome. A dominating internal, agency perspective in such projects might imply that citizens as the user group of the e-service are only seen as passive receivers of the outcome – not as active participants in the development. By applying the analysis themes, proposed in this article, citizens as active participants can be thoroughly discussed when initiating (or evaluating) an e-government project.

Originality/value – This article addresses challenges regarding citizen participation in e-government development projects. User participation is well-researched within the IS discipline, but the e-government setting implies new challenges, that are not explored enough.

This paper discusses critical success factors (CSF) and best practice in relation to IT implementation in the health sector. We have studied a University Hospital’s implementation of a health information system (HIS) and particularly one clinic which implementation process was described as very successful compared to other units at this hospital. The purpose of the paper is to gain further understanding of if and how well CSFs and best practice solutions can explain this successful case. We do this in order to explore if CSFs and best practice offer any shortcuts to successful IT implementation. By understanding the reasons behind this case’s success we can identify if CSFs and best practice potentially can explain the success, or if there are other explanations in this case. Based on our findings we discuss and question the sometimes overestimated belief in CSFs and best practice as shortcuts to success performance. An important contribution from this study is that situational and contextual factors are very critical to understand and acknowledge during HIS implementations.

This paper adopts a communication perspective on public electronic forms (e-forms). By doing so we define forms as instruments for communication and, thus, also instruments through which citizens perform different communicative actions towards government agencies. As such instruments, the forms might be more or less useful. The purpose of this paper is to explore what features of an e-form that increase the communication quality. We conduct a theoretical synthesis of three existing approaches for designing information systems. The result is a combined theory on key features of an e-form that make the establishment of communication quality more likely. The result consists of four key concepts, each of which give rise to one set of design principles for communication from the issuer of the e-form to the user (citizen), and one set of design principles for communication from the user (citizen) to the recipient of the e-form.

Today we are primarily using computers for communication. We communicate via computers as professionals and at our spare time. One growing context of computer use is when we as citizens communicating with authorities. This paper suggests communication criteria for evaluation of public e- services. The suggested criteria are derived from a communication perspective and applied in a case study for evaluation of an e-service. Communication between authorities and citizens are often communication intensive and consequently conditions and consequences of communication should be evaluated. The aim of the suggested communication criteria is to be a complement to established traditional usability criteria.

This paper is challenging the usability of traditional usability guidelines. The claim is that guideline descriptions and explanations are not satisfactory. Analysis results demonstrate vagueness and are ambiguous in explanation. The aim of the paper is to propose a set of principles (meta-guidelines) to be used for improving the usability of guidelines.

The design and evaluation of IT-systems are usually supported by different usability criteria. Our hypothesis is that criteria are predominantly formulated as supporting interaction between a user and an IT-system. We are claiming that there is a need for criteria formulated at higher levels such as communication and business processes. One example of a criterion formulated at the interaction level is "Visibility of system status" and one example of a criterion formulated at the business process level is "Quality of work". If criteria is formulated and used on the interaction level only, the impact on design and evaluation can only take place at this level. This choice will also mean that you are only able to speculate whether the IT-system is supporting higher levels. We are not saying that criteria belonging to the interaction level are unimportant; rather we are saying that there is a need for formulating complementing criteria that resides on the communication and business process level.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. University of Boras, Sweden .

Information systems as an artefact-oriented discipline require a strong interaction between researchers, developers and users regarding design of, development of, and the study of the use of digital artefacts in social settings. During recent years, performing research in a design science research spirit has gained increasing interest. In larger scale design research endeavours, access to systems development capabilities becomes necessary. Such a unit, InnovationLab, was established in 2006 in a university setting in Sweden. In this paper we are investigating the 5 years experience of running this InnovationLab. Our findings point to an innovation lab being valuable for research in general and especially for design science research. However, in order to balance the business of an innovation lab, it will be necessary to provide services for other stakeholders (such as administrative units, teachers, and students) as a means for developing systems development capability aimed at supporting researchers.

This paper is about the knowledge transferring between IT-consultants. IT-consultants are involved in many complex and challenging situations. They need to manage organisational, semantic and technical issues. Managing this complexity requires a high and a variety of competences. Examples of competences needed are business development, project management, information system development methods and techniques. An IT-consultant often makes continuous movements between different assignments and clients. The competence developed is often individually based. Individually based knowledge is not sufficient since the IT-consultants have to carry organisational working procedures. Furthermore, the competence needed is not static; it is something that should evolve dynamically. In this paper we are proposing a collective competence development approach. The collective competence development approach consists of a process model and a conceptual model. The aim of both these models is to make individual based knowledge as subject to collective reflection.

29.

Cronholm, Stefan

et al.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The aim of this research is to suggest a method for collective competence development among IT-consultants. IT-consultants are involved in many challenging situations. They need to manage different organisational,semantic and technical issues. Managing this complexity requires a variety of competences. Examples of competences needed are business development,project management and information system development. The competence developed is often individually based. Due to the competition between consultancy firms it is not sufficient with an individually based consult competence; rather the IT-consultants have to carry joint work procedures of the organisation. A consultancy firm possessing a high organisational competence is selling more than working hours; they are selling a reflected development approach. The competence of the IT-consultants is decisive concerning the outcome in the clients’ organisations. The reasons for suggesting a reflective and structured approach for collective competence development are: 1) many IT-consultants are exchange experiences only hastily and at random. This means an ad hoc development of joint competencies. 2) IT-consultants often collaborate with clients rather than withother IT-consultants. If the IT-consultant is the only representative from the IT-organisation the interaction with other consultants is limited. The character of the IT-consultants’ work situation means that there is a risk that the competencies resides only on an individual level and that they will not be properly transferred to the collective and organisational level. We have been inspired by theories such as: experiential learning, organisational learning,knowledge-in-action and storytelling. The method development has been based on empirical data from two IT-consultancy firms. The main message of the paper is to argue for the need of a structured collective competence development process and that it is not sufficient to rely on sporadic and occasional knowledge exchange.

30.

Cronholm, Stefan

et al.

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

This paper investigates an approach to human-computer interaction - actability theory - that emphasises human-via-computer-to-human interaction. This social action approach to HCI is confronted with affordance theory by Gibson; an ecological theory of perception. The notion of affordance is compared and related to actability. Different IT usage situations described in actability theory are critically examined. A re-conceptualisation of these situations is made and this refined conceptualisation is used to classify different usage situations of a municipal case coordination system as a small empirical illustration and test. In the last part of the paper, the definition of an actable IT system is revised. The IT affordances of different IT usage situations are clarified.

33.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, Information Systems. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Action research and design research are two prominent research approaches in information systems. These two research approach have been claimed to be similar according to several conducted comparisons. There are, however, other claims that they are decisively dissimilar. Some scholars have proposed integrations of these two research approaches, which however show great diversity. These diversities in views of similarities, differences and integration possibilities are the main impetus for this work. This conceptual inquiry takes a new angle in comparing and integrating action research and design research. It uses a third position, the research approach of practice research as a yardstick and integration instrument. Action research and design research are studied and compared using practice research. This comparison has been driven further to a proposed integration within the conceptualisation of practice research. An integrated model of action research and design research is presented and given the label practice research through intervention and design (PR-ID).

This paper addresses the important paradigmatic issue of how to conceive the science of information systems (IS). It investigates especially the relations between IS science and its empirical fields (development and usage of information systems). One possible view of IS science is reviewed; an artefact science view. With inspiration from and critique of this view another view is articulated: Information systems as a science of the practical. Elements of this IS science view are outlined. This is made through exploring the practice concept. The character of IS practices as complex, multi-facetted phenomena are described. Ten paradigmatic principles for a practice oriented IS science are proposed. Central in the practice view of IS science is its ability to contribute to improvements of IS practices. This is especially clarified through formulating knowledge interests for an IS science of the practical.

35.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context.

The paper examines one of the corner-stones of the language/action (LAP) approaches: communication loop modelling. This kind of modelling is used in approaches like Action Workflow and DEMO and it includes the modelling of two fundamental roles; customer and performer. The paper extends earlier critical analysis of two-role models. It introduces the principle of multi-responsiveness, meaning that one organisational action can be a response to several different communication acts. The difference between a present triggering initiative and trans-situational background initiatives are described. The paper uses a reference case, the pizza shop case, well-known in the LAP community through earlier use in many papers

36.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context.

This paper investigates if design research in e-government should be conducted in some special way compared with standard models for design research. It reviews literature in e-government and design research in order to generate an answer to this research question. The result is affirmative that the policy character of e-government should have consequences for the way that e-government design research is conducted. A tentative e-government design research model, consisting of different activities is formulated. This model consists of the activities: theorizing, policy analysis, workpractice analysis, co-design and co-evaluation of IT artefact and workpractice. One important result from this paper is the formulation of the concept of the policy-ingrained artefact as an important empirical result from e-government design research.

Design research (DR) is an emergent research approach within information systems. There exist demands to clarify the meta-scientific foundations for this approach. Different responses to these demands are made. There exist attempts to position DR within interpretivism and critical realism. Some scholars have suggested pragmatism as an appropriate paradigm base for design research. This paper has taken pragmatism as a candidate paradigm and it has investigated and elaborated the epistemological foundations for DR. Different epistemic types of DR are identified using a pragmatist perspective. Design research is also related to four aspects/types of pragmatism: Local functional pragmatism (as the design of a useful artefact), general functional pragmatism (as creating design theories and methods aimed for general practice), referential pragmatism (focusing artefact affordances and actions) and methodological pragmatism (knowledge development through making).

Action research (AR) has gained more acceptance as an approach to qualitative research in information systems (IS). The complexities of organisational and technical change makes this approach a suitable one in IS research. There are, however, still some controversies and confusions about the relation between "action" and "research". The many types of AR and similar approaches (not labelled as AR) that have emerged demand further conceptual clarification of AR. A conceptual inquiry of AR, presented in the paper, has led to the identification of several unresolved issues concerning intervention research like AR. An alternative research approach is presented: practice research. This research approach is well founded in pragmatism and it is founded on the two premises: 1) to contribute to general practice through abstract and useful knowledge and 2) to study the empirical field as interconnected practices. Several important concepts of practice research are described as: local practice contribution vs. general practice contribution; theorizing vs. situational inquiry; abstract vs. situational knowledge. These notions and their pragmatist foundations can help to sharpen AR as a qualitative research approach. Practice research is defined as a broader notion encompassing AR and other research approaches as e.g. design research and evaluation research. Two case examples of practice research are briefly presented and compared: one AR-based study in the social welfare sector and one evaluation study of a taxation e-service.

40.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, Information Systems. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

This paper investigates the notion of an ensemble artefact. This concept is proposed by Sein et al (2011) in their description of the Action Design Research method. This concept is based on the ensemble view of IT artefacts, which is described by Orlikowski & Iacono (2001) together with four other views. The conceptual journey from ensemble view to ensemble artefact is found problematic and is the impetus for a conceptual inquiry conducted in this paper. The conceptual investigation is supported by the use of a case illustration of an IT artefact in the social welfare sector. The different views from Orlikowski & Iacono are analysed and com-pared. The suggested conceptualisation of IT artefacts based on the ensemble view, made by Orlikowski & Iacono, is also analysed. Based on these analyses an alternative view is articu-lated: A communication tool view of IT artefacts. This view is compared with the ensemble view, especially in a design research context. The notion of ensemble artefact is contested, as is the suggested use of it as a main conceptual basis in design research.

This paper presents a simple model for e-government research consisting of three notions: policy, design and effects. This model should be seen as programmatic statement for e-government research. Central in the model is design process and designed products of egov artefacts. Design is in the egov context considered to be a process of policy implementation. The policy background of egov systems are thus seen as pivotal to study. The use of egov systems by different types of users will lead to different kinds of effects. There might be positive and negative effects and the effects might be intended or un-intended. The model is grounded in earlier and on-going research in e-government. The model is also operationalised in different research themes, which can be interpreted as a research agenda. The model is also related to current discourses in information systems concerning the need to focus the IT artefact, practice theorizing and design research.

Purpose - This paper presents a new theoretical model (the Generic Regulation Model - GRM) which is aimed for e-government development. There is a need for such a generic model in order to describe and analyse the regulation that occurs in the interaction between governmental agencies and citizens.

Design/methodology/approach - This new model has evolved through an action research project/practical inquiry in e-government. The project area was personal assistance to disabled persons. The practical inquiry has comprised generation and application of the GRM model (as a kind of empirical grounding) and also some initial theoretical grounding.

Findings - In the e-government project there was a need to conceptualize the relations between different governmental agencies and clients. As a response to this need a generic model and a corresponding situational model were developed. The generic model consists of three layers: 1) legislation as general regulation, 2) application of legislation for issuing decisions (= individual rules), i.e. specific regulation, 3) application of general and individual rules in regulated practices. The paper also gives an epistemological account of the evolution of the new GRM model. GRM is considered to be a practical theory and it has evolved through a design-oriented practical inquiry.

Originality/value – The paper presents this new Generic Regulation Model. The GRM model should be adequate to apply in many e-government situations, since there are often regulation issues at stake. The GRM model should be used in the design and evaluation of e-government applications.

Information systems actability is a theoretical and methodological approach to technology-based information systems in organizations. Its emphasis is on communication and its basic view is that information systems are instruments for technology-mediated work communication. It received its original theoretical inspiration from speech act theory and the language action perspective. Information systems actability has been further developed and it has obtained theoretical inspiration from many other traditions and theories. This article presents a coherent analysis and view of information systems actability and traces its different theoretical roots. Besides the language action perspective and speech act theory, information systems actability gets its current theoretical backing from theories and knowledge traditions like pragmatic philosophy, classical semiotics, social action theories, affordance theory, semiotic HCI engineering, conversation analysis, discourse theory, and activity theory. The article contributes with a synthesizing analysis of different information systems actability publications and reconstructs the theory and presents it in a condensed form in fourteen propositions.

This paper explores the contrast between 1) the rhetoric and visions in Swedish national e-government policy and 2) practical problems in real e-government development. In this respect it particularly explores the possibilities and obstacles for an innovative e-government development in relation to the highly regulated environment of public administration. The paper uses a case study on e-government development (allowances for personal assistance to disabled persons) for analysis and illustration. Different kinds of regulations are investigated (general administrative regulations, domain-specific regulations, e-government policies) and their roles as barriers and enablers are identified. The value balancing between different sets of regulations is seen as a key issue with regards to how to establish an e-government with a high degree of process innovation. The paper advocates for a value balancing process characterized as a systemic approach with identifying and prioritizing basic values. Value balancing is investigated through a socio-pragmatic framework on institutions and interpreted as a kind of meta-institutional activity.

45.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context.

Action research is now a well established research approach within information systems. Action research is defined as having dual purposes; contributing to changes in a local practice and to the scientific body of knowledge. It is often seen as way to ensure practical relevance in the research. However, in the definitions of action research nothing is explicitly said about the need to develop general knowledge of practical relevance and usefulness. As an alternative and a complement to action research, another research approach is elaborated: practical inquiry. This approach relies on pragmatic philosophy. Practical inquiry shares many similarities with action research, but there are some important differences. The purpose of a practical inquiry is, through empirical study on practical matters in local practices, to contribute to general practical knowledge. This practical knowledge will be part of the scientific body of knowledge and it aims to be useful for practical affairs. In many situations, practical inquiry will also include intervention, of varying degrees, into the studied local practices. The general practical knowledge is often formulated as practical theories. Purposes and constituents of practical theories are described. An illustration of a combined practical inquiry and action research study is described in the paper.

46.

Goldkuhl, Göran

Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, VITS - Development of Informations Systems and Work Context. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Qualitative research is often associated with interpretivism, but alternatives do exist. Besides critical research and sometimes positivism, qualitative research in information systems can be performed following a paradigm of pragmatism. This paradigm is associated with action, intervention and constructive knowledge. This paper has picked out interpretivism and pragmatism as two possible and important research paradigms for qualitative research in information systems. It clarifies each paradigm in an ideal-typical fashion and then conducts a comparison revealing commonalities and differences. It is stated that a qualitative researcher must either adopt an interpretive stance aiming towards an understanding that is appreciated for being interesting; or a pragmatist stance aiming for constructive knowledge that is appreciated for being useful in action. The possibilities of combining pragmatism and interpretivism in qualitative research in information systems are analysed. A research case (conducted through action research (AR) and design research (DR)) that combines interpretivism and pragmatism is used as an illustration. It is stated in the paper that pragmatism has influenced IS research to a fairly large extent, albeit in a rather implicit way. The paradigmatic foundations are seldom known and explicated. This paper contributes to a further clarification of pragmatism as an explicit research paradigm for qualitative research in information systems. Pragmatism is considered an appropriate paradigm for AR and DR.

Design research (DR) has matured as an important research approach within information systems. It can be seen as a response to the quest of more focus on the IT artefact. Besides the IT artefact, there are other important artefacts to build and study in DR. There are models and prototypes which are produced during information systems development. This paper has investigated the empirics of design research, especially activities and outcomes. Based on a conceptual inquiry of design research literature and two cases of design research, a conceptual clarification of design research empirics has been established. Two cases of public e-service design form the empirical bases for this conceptual development. The empirics of design research (i.e. a design practice) is distinguished from the theorizing part of DR. Empirical data of DR to be used for theorizing consist of produced artefacts, embedded data collection for design and theory-required data collection. Three types of evaluation in DR are distinguished: Embedded evaluation in design activities, explicit formative evaluation with data from use settings and theory-required evaluation in order to assure theoretical validity of results.

This paper presents a new theoretical model (the Generic Regulation Model - GRM) which is aimed for e-government development. This model has evolved through an action research project in e-government. The project has worked in the area of personal assistance to disabled persons. In this project there was a need to conceptualize the relations between different governmental agencies and the clients. As a response to this need a generic model and a situational model were developed. The new generic model (GRM) is theoretically based on another theoretic model (the Generic Exchange Model - GEM). GRM does not replace the GEM model. It is partially a specialisation of the GEM model and it is intended to be used in regulation contexts. A claim is that the GRM model is adequate in many e-government situations, since there is often some regulation issue at stake. The paper also gives an epistemological account of the evolution of the new GRM model. GRM is considered to be a practical theory and it has evolved through a practical inquiry (the action research project on personal assistance). The practical inquiry has included application of the GRM model (as a kind of empirical grounding) and also some initial theoretical grounding.